


the way your world can alter

by geneeste



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Families are tough yo, Fic amnesty, Mentions of Donna Smoak - Freeform, Pay No Attention to the Woman Behind the Curtain, mentions of Noah Smoak, mentions of William Clayton, repost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:40:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21829870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geneeste/pseuds/geneeste
Summary: A beat goes by, filled with discomfort and uncertainty and Felicity deliberately not looking at Oliver as he stares at her. "Does he know where I live?"
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	the way your world can alter

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! You might notice that this is not a new fic. I’ve been doing some archiving of old fic and realized that I didn’t love how bloated the collection “So It Goes” had gotten; it’s not very reader-friendly, particularly to readers who like to use tagging as a way to filter out stuff they don’t want to read. So I’m pulling out the longer works and publishing them as stand-alone fics. If you’re a subscriber and getting notifications about these, sorry about that! It’s not my intention to spam you, and I backdated these works to help distinguish them from new ones. Thanks for your patience, and happy reading!
> 
> —-
> 
> I'm getting back to old stories (including a certain WIP with the initials CALW), and doing some fic clearing to help with the writing process, which means: it's time for some fic amnesty!
> 
> This was originally going to be a much longer fic dealing with Oliver and Felicity's families, but it took me a while to write and thus became too far out from canon to work as a speculation fic. Although I'm sure it's obvious I intended other things for it, it's pretty well-contained and I added an ending of sorts, so hopefully you can still enjoy it!
> 
> Title from First Aid Kit's "The Lion's Roar."

They're halfway through dinner with Diggle and Lyla when there's a knock at the door.

Felicity and Lyla are discussing technical security upgrades for the new lair, and Oliver's pretty sure it's Thea showing up late again (he really has to get her to stop knocking on her own door), so he's the one to answer the door.

He's surprised, but not really worried, when he opens it to find a dark-haired young man waiting in the hallway.

The man is too tall and filled out to be a teenager, but there's a nervous air about him that makes him seem a lot younger than the early twenties he probably is.

"Uh," the kid says, looking thrown off by the sight of Oliver. "I'm looking for Felicity Smoak?"

It's not odd for Felicity to get visitors, even at night (she is the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, after all), and it's not like the kid is a threat, but something about the way he asks - like he's bracing for a blow - sets Oliver's teeth on edge.

As if on cue, Felicity appears from just around the corner of the kitchen. "Did I hear my name?" She asks, smiling, but when she sees the kid at the door, her smile falls. "Oh."

She starts to wring her hands, something he's only seen her do a few times when she's upset and trying to hide it, and Oliver feels tension shoot up his back and into his shoulders.

For his part, the kid starts to shift uncomfortably. "You know who I am?"

Felicity nods once. Her face is blank but her eyes are uncharacteristically hard. "Yes."

Confusion fills Oliver's mind, but he tries not to let it show on his face. The dynamic is off here, and he doesn't like it.

The kid clears his throat. "Right," and glances quickly at Oliver and then away again. "I'm sorry, you're busy. I can, uh…I'll just come back later."

"August," Felicity calls as the kid turns away, and he seems almost startled to hear his name.

A beat goes by, filled with discomfort and uncertainty and Felicity deliberately not looking at Oliver as he stares at her. "Does he know where I live?"

Clearly, the kid - August - knows who 'he' is, if the slight cringe Felicity's question brings is any indication. "No, but other people do. Your mother too. I thought about calling to warn her, but then I figured you would want to do that."

"Thank you," Felicity replies, not sounding all that grateful.

"Yeah," August replies, looking resigned and suddenly tired. "Okay."

This time when he goes to leave, nobody stops him.

The doorknob is still in Oliver's hand, and by the time he closes it and turns, Felicity is already heading around the corner to the kitchen. Oliver takes few long strides after her. "Who was that?"

As he comes to the table, Felicity is picking up dishes and taking them to sink around a surprised-looking Diggle and Lyla. She starts scraping food they haven't finished into the garbage disposal, and that only increases the sense of foreboding that Oliver feels, because she only cleans like this after bad things have happened.

"Felicity," he says, voice hard and trying to get her to look at him. "Who was that?"

She's got a sponge now, scrubbing away at a dish that is already mostly clean now. "That was my half-brother." She doesn't look up.

"You…" Oliver shifts on his feet, preparing for a fight he doesn't want and knows he shouldn't have. "You have a brother?"

Diggle stands from the table, looking between the two awkwardly. "I think maybe we should get going."

Lyla follows Diggle from the table, until Felicity calls them to stop. "Don't. It's fine, we can have dessert."

Diggle freezes, looking so uncomfortable, so much like a deer in headlights, that Oliver would laugh if he didn't feel like something was unraveling between himself and Felicity right there in their kitchen.

" _Felicity_ ," Oliver grits out, stunned at her admission and starting to get a little angry. "We're not having dessert right now."

"Yes, we are. You made pie. From scratch. We're all going to sit down and eat pie and it'll be delicious."

Her voice wobbles, and he's stepping forward on instinct, wanting to comfort her.

When she flinches away from him, the spark of anger in his chest ignites fully. " _Stop_. Just stop."

"Oliver," Lyla speaks up gently behind him. "Why don't we take a break?"

Finally, Felicity stops cleaning, and the plate clatters into the sink. Her eyes are red-rimmed when she looks up. "What do you want me to say, Oliver?"

"I want you to tell me what is going on," he's not yelling, but he's close. There's something happening here, something to fear, and his anger feeds on it.

"Nothing. I have a half-brother. A half-sister too, actually, but I've never spoken to either of them until now." She says, looking somewhere just to the side of him. "There's nothing to tell."

All he can do is shake his head incredulously. "How is that…" He has to take a deep breath. "How could you not tell me that you have other family?"

Suddenly she looks him in the eye. "I don't know, Oliver. How could you not tell me about yours?" Her voice is very, very even.

Oliver's stomach drops. Any anger he felt is completely gone - now it's just pure dread, because he's just realized: Felicity knows about William. He doesn't know how she knows, but she does. And what's worse, now she knows that _he_ knows about William.

It's such a convoluted and horrible mess that he's rooted to the floor, unable to reply.

Felicity seems to take his silence for what it essentially is, which is guilt. "Right," she says, drying her hands on a towel and throwing it onto the counter. "I need a minute."

She goes upstairs, leaving him standing in the kitchen with Lyla and Diggle, and at a total loss for what he should do next. As open as the loft is, it's starting to feel like it's closing in on him, so he retreats without a word to the balcony.

He stands and stares out at the city for a long while, and then at his hands for longer resting on the balcony rail, fighting the anxiety growing in his chest. It feels like a lifetime has passed when the door behind him opens.

"Hey," Felicity says, and as scared as he is, it's surpassed by the immense relief he feels.

"Hey," he replies. "I was afraid you'd leave."

"I couldn't. Not without some of that pie," she jokes weakly. She looks guarded, and not a little sad. She's wrapped in a blanket that makes her look small and vulnerable, and he hates it.

She looks over her shoulder. "John and Lyla are still here. I think they want to make sure we don't kill each other."

He knows she's joking, but it still stings that she says it. "I could never hurt you. Not on purpose."

He needs her to know - whatever damage he's done, it wasn't intentional.

Her face softens a little. "I know that, Oliver." She blows out a breath. "Why don't we start over."

He nods. "Okay."

She moves to the railing next to him, speaking to the city below. "My father is…not a good man. He deals with bad people, and there's always a chance one of those people will try to cause trouble through my me and my mom. So I've kept tabs on him."

"How long?" He asks, heart aching for her.

"Off and on since I was a teenager. But I didn't know I had siblings until after I graduated MIT - Noah did a fairly good job of keeping them hidden," she says, bitterly and a little brokenly. "I didn't tell you, because…I don't really think about them. I try not to."

Oliver understands that. He doesn't like it, but he can understand it. "And William?"

She grips her blanket a little tighter. "I keep alerts on your profile, so we know if someone's checking into you. A woman named Samantha Clayton ran a background check on you a few months ago. So I looked into her."

Oliver closes his eyes for a moment. "I'm sorry. Felicity, I wanted to tell you. I'm so sorry."

"I wanted you to tell me," she says, voice strained. "And I have to believe you would have, eventually. And I can't exactly blame you for something I didn't do either."

"It's not the same thing, Felicity."

"Hey, I’m trying to be understanding here."

He laughs, but there's not much humor in it. "What does this mean for us?" he asks, afraid to look at her.

"I don't know," she says, quietly and frankly. "I think it's obvious we have some things to deal with, and I’m not just talking about how to handle new family members and their complications."

He swallows, but has to nod. She's right, as she usually is. It’s not a good thing that keeping secrets is their default - that had been his parents' relationship, and basically every other relationship he's had. He doesn't want that with Felicity.

Felicity leans a little into his side. "But I think we should try to deal with it together. I mean, I'm game if you are."

He leans back a little, giving the warmth he's receiving back to her. "I am."


End file.
